Exceptions to Home Education

Sometimes, the conveyor belt is just a better idea all around......

“I just want to say that I'm against home schooling in the following areas: med school, dental school, firefighting certification, pilot training, and military stuff like artillery and tank qualification. Call me old fashioned, but I just think that official, regimented, certified programs with the proper teaching facilities are the way to go in those cases. Also, I'm NEVER going back to that homeschooled dentist again. He was horrible.”

From Fark.com.

Amazing and Wonderful

Beautiful objects and brilliant design...what could be better?

Remember how Buckminster Fuller designed geodesic domes with a dream that all mankind could have affordable, easily constructed homes? (He's one of my favorite all time heros).

These designs are like that...only different. They are for shoes, bags, chairs...things we all use everyday and don't give a second thought.
Well, this company asked how they could design things with zero waste(at least I think that's what they asked..most of their site is in French).
The results are mind blowing. And beautiful. And textural (come on! water cut felt shoes that come flat and you fold them up yourself???!)

IKEA was one of the first companies to do this in this part of the world, with their flat packing ideas. And Kindersurprise. (I always marvel at the cleverness of their tiny toy designs).

It gives me hope for the future of our planet to think that artists and designers are collaborating on ideas like this.

chausson pod, Feutre sérigraphié en pièce unique, découpe numérique, assemblage par clés. Chaque chausson constitue une tuile dans un pavage périodique hypothétiquement infini. Les patrons étant contigus, chaque coupe permet de produire deux pièces. Ceci est le principe de la «coupe partagée», que nous exploitons largement dans nos créations. La rotation des cadres sérigra- phiques, ainsi que le «bougé» du chemin de découpe permet de produire des séries non-standard. Pod slippers, felt screen printed, original pieces, water-jet cutting, assembly by keys. Each slipper constitutes a tile of a hypothetically infinite periodic paving. The patterns being contiguous, each cut generates two parts, instead of one. It is the principle of the «share-cut», which we exploit largely in our creations. The rotation of the serigraphic screens, as well as the «bougé» of the cuts, allows the generation of non-standard series. sac opla, feutre naturel sérigraphié, découpe numérique, assemblage par fermeture zip. La hauteur du sac opla représente un tiers de la hauteur d’un rouleau de feutre standard. Sa fermeture éclair est une couture amovible, permettant de le monter, mais aussi d’ajouter d’éventuels «périphériques». hand bag opla, natural felt screen printed, water-jet cutting, assembly by closing zip. The height of the "opla" bag equals the third of a standard felt roller’s width. Its zip is a removable seam, making it possible to assemble it, but also to add "options". Pochette cd alvéole imprimée, 20 feuilles en papier recyclé rainé. Par simple pliage, on obtient une pochette hermétique munie d’une cinématique d’ouverture efficace. Une pastille d’adhésif double-face permet aussi d’animer les murs de range-cds modulaires et ultraplats. Printed paper CD case, 20 sheets in recycled paper. Through simple folds, one obtains a hermetic CD pocket with an effective opening kinematics. A two-sided pastille of adhesive also allows to animate one’s walls through the modular assembling of this ultra flat CD case. pochette cd alvéole imprimable, 20 feuilles papier recyclé rainé, la pochette à plat fait 29,7 cm de long. Elle peut être imprimée à partir d’une banque de modèles ou être personnalisée avec le logiciel alvéoprint téléchargeable en cliquant sur la photographie à gauche. Printable paper CD case, 20 sheets in recycled paper. Flat, the CD pocket is 29,7 cm length. It can be printed starting from a bank of models, or be personalized whith the software alvéoprint, just click on the image at left .

- objets mobilier scénographie projets et idées actualité presse nous

Still Goghing!

Dear Dawn is amazing. I had a whole day yesterday to do something special. I thought I was going to be spending my day with Liam, but it turned out that he had a date with his GrandmaFarm which I had forgoten about.
So....when Dawn called, we plotted, and she decided to torture my kitty.


Poor Zoot. It was the brightest, sunniest day yesterday and he had finally made peace with the fact that his chair was forever changed. He sprawled out on it, soaking up the rays (can kitties make vitamin D through their fur?) and just wallowed in the loveliness of the day.

Then Dawn showed up. In her white coat. (Her paint smock is a reincarnated lab coat).

With her brushes.

He was in a snit. He was chased off the chair and had to resort to sitting on the back of the couch. He spent the day conspicuously facing away from us. ( He is going to develop white coat syndrome, I swear!)






Dawn did her magic, Levi and Zach amused themselves with Shaun the Sheep DVD's, sketching and generally driving me crazy, Josh cheered us on, Zoot ignored us and pouted,
and I, well I made soup of course.

And I did important "research and development" on the top secret new project that Dawn and I are working on together. (It's going to be really exciting!!)

Back to the chair...Dawn is amazing!
You know how most of the Masters, Vincent included, learned and became great by copying other Masters? Dawn is right up there. The chair is a Masterpiece! The colour and light in the painting are beautiful!

It is a one-of-a-kind, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy it makes me to look at it, sitting here in the sun! If you click on this last photo, you can see that there is just one couple sitting there, on the terrace at the cafe. It's Mr Wonderful and me...we have the place to ourselves!

(Don't you think Dawn should also paint herself in here? Leave me a comment if you think she should).

Inner peace...

"The way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what you start. So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. I feel better already." ~ David Barry

Happy Blogiversary to me!

It's been two years since I started this blog. I have had fun writing, sharing, connecting, recording...so much has happened in the 24 months I've been posting.
I've become a Grandma to sweet Liam, I've taken classes, and taught some, I've shared many holidays with my family, I've done a ton of laughing (and crying) with my friends. I've seen seasons change and lives change. I've seen people I love battle illnesses and overcome...or continue to fight, and live with grace and purpose. I've learned SO MUCH!!!

I want to share it all, but I'll settle for a random sampling of photos taken by me, photos that I feel chronicle my life in a surprisingly candid way.
Hope you enjoy!

What have we become?

I read this story and had to ask myself, would I throw a party for a prostitute at 3:30 in the morning? Is that a good thing?

snippets from real life

See, I really have had lots going on the last few weeks, even if I couldn't blog about it. Josh somehow managed to get my last batch of photos from the camera to my computer.
Now the two are not speaking (what goes on in these machines??) and my camera card is full of wonderful photos and video of the Nature in Mind Festival that I have no way of getting onto my computer.
The mac frankly refuses to acknowledge the Canon, and the PC is in a snit about something, insisting they have never met and can not possibly connect in the intimate manner that uploading requires.
What's a computer illiterate to do? I've tried crying. No success at all. I've downloaded drivers to the best of my limited ability and pleaded and maybe said a baddish word or two. *sigh* Where is my computer guy when we need him??

Here is one of of the rescued videos. It feels like contraband. Enjoy. It may be awhile before I can post more.




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Man that smells good!
Liam LOVES the essential oil diffuser. We all do, but this boy REALLY knows how to get the most out of it. Orange and Lavender are his especial favorites.

The chair and Wide Eyed Portraits.

The Faux Gogh continues. Here is the latest installment of the progression of Starry Night by Dawn.

There is a little bit of a painting peeking out from behind the chair in the last photo. Can you see it? Here's what it looks like:

This is a portrait Dawn did of yours truly! Isn't it wonderful? (and an amazing likeness too! LOL) I'm juggling marbles! How great is that?
If you want a special birthday gift for someone who appreciates whimsey as much as I do, contact Dawn about her "Wide Eyed Portraits". They are guaranteed to bring a smile. She fills the frame with symbolic, personal little touches that make it a real treasure.
Mine has birds, a bee hive, books, words and song lyrics, the marbles (which I collect) and a globe (another love of mine). It is the first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning. I may hang it in my kitchen, or create an art wall in my living room. Not sure yet, but I'm enjoying it every day. Contact Dawn for one of your very own! While you're at it, ask her about doing a piece of furniture...she does a great Chagall as well as Van Gogh!